The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1887-03-19
BATTLE NEW oRLEAN S.

u bcccnlDcf, 1914, tencra Jackson
was informed that the British had land
Cd in Louisiana, and that portion Of
their troops had been seen on the Vii
lere plantation below the city. / was
then at the College Of Orleans, corner
OF st. Claude and Bayou Road. alias
Hospital Street. when. at 3 o'clock r. NJ,
great commotion was observed with
in its learned precincts. All studies
were suspended; the class-rooms shut
up; the pupils hurTying 10 and fro in
evident alarm; parents poured in and
taking their children away. Mycousin.
Frederic Foucher, and myself were
beginning to fear our being forgotten
and left 20 shift for ourselves.
instead of being rs well cared for as
most OF our companions--both our
families being six miles above the city,
and ignorant ofthe exciting news--when
there came messenger from Madame
Porcc, the sister Of Pierre Foucher. and
the aunt Of Frederic, 10 tender us the
shelter Of her house at the corner OF
Dumaine and Royal streets, which Is
still i'm existence, with the same an
tiquatcd front painted yellow, and with
the same balcony on which the two
boys stood and saw Major Plauche's
battalion of uniformed, wcll-equipped.
and well-drilled militia pass under it.
That corps was composed of the elite
Of tho young men of the city-la jeun-
esSc dorcc--and IL seems to me thatI
sec now rs wildly as / saw then the
handsome Edmond Foucher conspicu-
Gus In the ranks of those who were thus
marching rapidly to meet the enemy
Looking up to the balcony, he saluted
his old aunt with cheerful smile and
wave of the hand that seemed intended
10 comfort her and dispel her alarms.
AT seven o'clock the battle began,
and the roar of the artillery, with the
discharges of musketry, was almost as
distinctly heard as il in our immediate
neighborhood. There was not the
slightest noise in the apparently dead
city. IL held its breath in awful sus-
pensc. There was not human being
TO be seen moving in the streets. We,
the two boys and the ladies of the house
hold, petrilied into absolute silence by
the apprehensions of the moment, stood
on the balcony until half past nine,
when the firing gradually ceased. But
still we continued TO remain on the
same spot; for what was TO happenP
Were our defenders retreating, pursued
by the enemy? These were hours of
anxiety never TO be forgotten. About
eleven o'clock the oppressive silence in
she city was broken by the furiously
rapid gallop OF horseman shouting
Victory! victory He turned front
Chartres Street into Dumaine. and from
Humane into Royal. still shouting
Victory The voice had become
hoarse. and yet no human voice that
ever afterward heard was fraught with
more sweet music. That night we went
TO bed with thankful hearts. The two
Boys soon slept soundly. rs boys sleep,
with that blissful unconcern which APP
pertains TO their age. But doubt II
four kind hostess and her daughters
closed their eyes, for they had husbands
brothers, sons on the battlefield, and
they did not know at what cost to them
The victory had been achieved.
In the morning Il the preceding day
the famous battle Of the Sth was fought
on the plains Of Chalmctte, four miles
below the city. In bec-line the dis
lance must have been very short
between the field of action and the Bore
plantation. six miles above New Orleans
by the windings of the river, for the
furious cannonading and the discharges
of muskctry were prodigiously distinct.
The ladies of the family, pale with the
natural emotions of fear produced by
the dangers of tho situation, were
grouped on the broad gallery in front OF
the house. No man was visible, for the
only one who had remained at home Con
account of his age) had, when the battle
began, assembled with slow but firm steps
fight of stairs which led to the top OF
the portico. At every vollcy of artillery
or musketry, flung myself on the floor,
cxclaiming. "len Englishmen killedr'
Twenty Englishmcn fiat on the
ground" and so ON.
l continued rejoicing in the fancied
destruction of our invaders. notwith.
standing the circumstances Of my poor
mother, in whose alarm / very little
participated. The battle had not YET
ended when my grandfather Bore
came down from his post of observa
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